‘Deadpool’ Broke Several Major Box Office Records This Weekend

Early tracking for Fox’s Deadpool solo film suggested that Tim Miller’s profanity and violence-laden superhero outing would bring in around $65 million. That number inflated over the past week, and thanks to a strong preview night on Thursday, February 11, the estimate for the risky action film ballooned to $135 million — and that’s precisely how much Deadpool made in its first three days in theaters, shattering a few box office records along the way.

We’re still waiting for the final numbers for Deadpool’s opening weekend, which will include tomorrow’s President’s Day holiday, but Ryan Reynolds and Tim Miller’s bold venture paid off. Not only does it have the biggest opening for a film released in February (shattering Fifty Shades of Grey’s previous record of $85 million), but it now holds the record for the biggest R-rated opening weekend, besting previous record-holder The Matrix Reloaded.

Deadpool is also well on track to breaking Fifty Shades of Grey’s record for biggest four-day, President’s Day / Valentine’s Day weekend opening, as it’s expected to hit anywhere from $150 to $160 million or so by end-of-day tomorrow. And that’s still not all, as Deadpool has also topped 300 with the biggest R-rated comic book adaptation opening, and the largest opening weekend for 20th Century Fox, breaking the record held by Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. And it has the biggest opening of any previous X-Men film. That’s kind of a lot.

So what does this mean? Well, Fox clearly knew they had an imminent hit, as it was reported last week that the studio has already given the green light to a sequel, with Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick currently working on the screenplay. Reynolds will return, and we have to assume Miller will as well, with the former teasing the debut of Cable in the next film.

That will also help pave the way for the X-Force movie, which Fox set Kick-Ass 2 director Jeff Wadlow to adapt almost two years ago. The lineup for that team is rumored to include Cable, Domino, Warpath and more, but it’s unclear if Deadpool’s success guarantees him a spot on that team. What is clear is that we’re probably going to see more movement on the X-Force front pretty soon, as Fox’s Deadpool gamble paid off in a huge way.

It’ll be interesting to see how studios learn from Deadpool’s success — will they take more risks with superhero films, or will they embrace regressive, juvenile humor and dick jokes? Will they stop shying away from edgier, R-rated comic book material? Or will this change…nothing?